Trump Again Publicly Perpetuates Rape Culture (A Rant)

“President Trump continued his defence Tuesday of his Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, saying “it’s a very scary time for young men in America” because of the possibility of false accusations”. (NPR)

I find this mentality shown by our president to be appalling. President Trump has reaffirmed, with his statements here, something that many of us already know and that is that he doesn’t understand that women are humans deserving of respect. He shows us his total lack of empathy for victims of sex crimes and it’s disgusting. His perpetuation of rape culture in the US should infuriate anyone with any kind of morals. Hearing so many supporters of Trump defend Kavenaugh with statements like “oh people can’t be held accountable for what they do in high school or college” and “things happen at frat parties. She should have been more careful.” is absolutely sickening.

Earlier today I listened to a very intelligent young lady, who’s working as a co-op in my office, and did a fantastic job putting it in perspective when sharing her opinion on college students and accountability. She said, that “She’s 22 years old in college. If a classmate were to rape her or assault her now, and then was running for political office 20 years from now, you bet your ass that she’s going to scream from the hilltops to make sure everyone knows” (GC, 10-2-2018). Now this was a paraphrase because i didn’t know i was going to use her statement in my post when I was speaking to her earlier today and i referenced her using just her initials to protect her privacy but it drives a very serious point home that people should stop and consider in that at 22, you’re a legal adult and responsible for your own actions. She expects her classmates to have enough decency to not force themselves on her at 22, and frankly if a person did force themselves on her, they’d go to jail and be tried as an adult because at 22 you are responsible for your own actions. Our judicial system holds people accountable like this, so why don’t we as citizens instead of trying to sweep it under the rug because, he wasn’t that old, wake up and realise that we have accepted and allowed this to happen and now our politicians are using it to their advantage.

Now I know what’s coming next. People saying things like “well why do these people wait to tell anyone? They should have gone to the police” and you know what? Not everyone is strong enough to to that when these things do happen to them. Now i’m not a psychology expert but I can tell you that a victim of sexual assault and/or rape has had a vile atrocity forced upon them. Professionals say that rape isn’t about sex and therefore we can conclude that it doesn’t matter if the victim was wearing revealing clothing at those frat parties, so people claiming that they were “asking for it” because they were dressed a certain way just need to shut their mouths. Rape is about power, not sex. To force yourself on someone against their will and penetrate their body without their consent is the ultimate in violation and it breaks a person right through to their soul. Some people can process it better than others and some people never recover completely.

I’ve heard people claiming that the questioning of Kavenaugh is not a trial but a public job interview, which I believe to be accurate. He’s not on trial, but consider this: if you were an employer and were in the process of interviewing candidates for a position that they could contractually have for life with your company, and you had reputable, passionate sources telling you that this person has been caught numerous times in the past embezzling money, would you hire them? Nobody in their right mind would. So why is it allowed that a person, who’s likely committed or been an accomplice to and hidden, crimes that are far worse than embezzlement, is going to be allowed to get a pass?